Browsing by Author "Balci S."

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An analysis of plant blindness in Turkish textbooks used at the basic education level
(2018-01-01) Ahi B.; Atasoy V.; Balci S.
The importance of plants is not as clearly understood as that of animals. This lack of attention is called “plant blindness” and is considered one of the most important problems in biology education. Textbooks do not put much emphasis on plants and, therefore, they may contribute to plant blindness. In this research, ten textbooks used for teaching at the basic education level in Turkey were analyzed for plant blindness using the document analysis method. The words and photographs associated with plants and animals were analyzed. The data analysis did not find any evidence that could lead to a conclusion of plant blindness based on the text and photos of these textbooks. However, if the number of plant and animal species covered is increased, and more words and photos are used to introduce these species, children will become more familiar with plants and animals. Besides textbooks, other educational tools can be analyzed in terms of plant blindness to expand on the related literature.
Exploring Turkish preservice teachers' mental models of the environment: Are they related to gender and academic level?
(2017-05-27) Ahi B.; Balci S.; Alisinanoğlu F.
The current study aimed to establish Turkish preservice teachers' mental models of the environment and to determine the relationship these models have with gender and grade level. The study group comprised 463 Turkish preservice teachers from primary school education and preschool education departments. The data from the study were collected from drawings made by the participants. The drawings were evaluated using the Draw-an-Environment Test Rubric (DAET-R). The results of the study revealed that preservice teachers provide only superficial and scientifically deficient descriptions of the environment and that they constructed their mental models by perceiving the environment not as a unity of systems but as an object. On the basis of the findings, which showed that many preservice teachers do not include humans in their drawings, or draw biotic factors without other elements, it was concluded that preservice teachers perceive the environment as “nature” only. Although no statistically significant difference was found between females and males with respect to their mental models, significant differences occurred between second-year and fourth-year students and between third-year and fourth-year students, in favor of second- and third-year students.
Mind the gap! Differences between parents’ childhood games and their children’s game preferences
(2017-12-01) Balci S.; Ahi B.
This study discusses the differences between parents’ childhood games and their children’s game preferences. Four hundred and nineteen parents were surveyed to determine their play experiences as children as well as their children’s play experiences today. The results of the study indicate that there is a gap between the time spent outdoors by parents in their childhood and their children. Today, most children spend time indoors, usually playing computer games. The activities and games preferred by the children differed from those of their parents. Although the parents preferred mostly group games requiring group cooperation, competition between groups and physical activity, the children preferred more individualized activities such as cycling and playing in the park. The factors hindering children from playing outside are considered. Although most parents indicated that playing outside is beneficial for their children, they prevented their children from playing outside for reasons such as the dangers of being hit by a car or abduction.
What do primary school students’ drawings tell us about their mental models on marine environments?
(2020-01-01) Atasoy V.; Ahi B.; Balci S.
The current study aims to investigate the mental models of primary school students about marine environments and how variables such as gender, grade level, and city of residence affect their mental models. To this end, 100 students were selected from each of the four grade levels of primary education in Turkey; thus, a total of 400 students participated in the study. In the analysis of the collected data, both statistical tests and the content analysis method were used. As a result of the analyses conducted, it was found that with increasing grade level, the number of the codes belonging to marine environments also increased significantly (X 2 (3, n = 400) = 151.296, p = 0.000). In other words, the students’ mental models about marine environments were parallel to their grade level. In addition, the students’ mental models about marine environments were not found to vary significantly depending on gender (U = 18,513, z = −0.861, p = 0.39 with effect size r = 0.04) and city of residence (U = 19,852, z = −0.129, p = 0.897, with effect size r = 0.006).